When Johnny Comes Marching Home

It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a week since I returned from the cross-country trip with Johnny. The very next day I was out doing a thorough cleaning and then made arrangements to deliver Johnny to the Auto Haus Classic Center in Williamsburg the next day for Johnny’s initial evaluation. As you know, Rafi Autotech did a not unsubstantial amount of work on the car prior to departing Los Angeles, but really only enough to make it safe. The bottom line is this car has had a lot of maintenance deferred over the years. I’m happy to say that period of Johnny’s existence has come to an end. As you might expect during Mr. Carson’s ten years of ownership the car received regular service from Mercedes-Benz of Beverly Hills, with the appropriate stamps recorded in the maintenance book. That came to an end when the car was sold and no maintenance records exist, barring some CARFAX entries, between that time and my taking ownership.

Upon delivering the car to Auto Haus this past Friday, Johnny was placed Simon Wohlstaetter’s capable hands. Simon is from the “old country” and has been wrenching on classic Mercedes-Benz’ since he was a teenager. His initial impression of Johnny is very good, which is actually a relief coming from somebody I know and trust and who knows these cars inside and out. This confirms my impression that underneath neglected state is a gem in the rough. That said, I did hand Simon a laundry list of items and I’m sure he will find more that needs doing on top of what has already been done.

The current plan is to get Johnny into the best possible mechanical shape possible, tackling the big-ticket items first and moving onto the more mundane items later. After we get it mechanically sorted it will be time to move onto the paint and body. I suspect that will be the most time consuming aspect of bringing Johnny up to speed and something I will certainly leave to those who know better than I how to go about it. In the meantime, I’ll be collecting Johnny either later this week or early next and drive him a bit until we review the plan and timeline going forward.

There is already another list forming in the back of my head concerning how to take Johnny to the next level. We’ve already received an invitation to bring Johnny to Pinehurst. Sadly, that will have to wait until next year I’m afraid. We have a lot of sorting and spitting and polishing to do before he’s ready for that sort of event. In any case, we’ll try to get Johnny around to a few local shows this spring, summer and fall. He won’t be fully ready, but if you’re in the neighborhood be sure and come by and have a look. Maybe we can hire an Ed McMahon impersonator to say “Heeeere’s…”

Johnny, Simon, Avril & Preston @ Auto Haus Williamsburg